Ottinger was born in
Manhattan, New York City, the son of Moses Ottinger and Amelia Gottlieb Ottinger. He graduated from
New York University Law School in 1898 and became an attorney in New York City. He was a member of the
New York State Senate (18th District) in
1917 and
1918; and then an
assistant attorney general of the United States. As such, Ottinger ruled that the
U.S. Congress could grant independence to the
Philippines if it wished, since the Philippines were an "insular possession" and therefore to be distinguished from the United States' states and territorial possessions. He was
New York State attorney general from 1925 to 1928, elected in
1924 and
1926. During his second term, he was the only Republican who held state office, and was responsible for closing down the notorious
"bucket shops" on
Wall Street. He was a delegate to the
1928 and
1932 Republican National Conventions. In
1928, while the
Democratic Party nominated New York Governor
Al Smith for the presidency, the first time a
Catholic from a major party was running for that office, the
Republican Party of New York nominated Ottinger for governor, the first
Jewish gubernatorial candidate in New York history. The Democratic Party nominated
Franklin D. Roosevelt for governor, and
Herbert Lehman, also a Jew, as the candidate for
lieutenant governor of New York. On the national ticket,
Herbert Hoover won by a landslide over Al Smith, the latter's religion clearly a national issue. The gubernatorial contest, however, was one of the closest in New York history. Against the national Republican trend, Roosevelt won by only 25,000 votes, less than 1% of the four million ballots cast. At the end of his term as New York state's attorney general, Ottinger summed up his record as follows: "Hammer, hammer, hammer, at every manner and means of fraud and dishonesty, the prevention and assertion of which the Legislature has assigned to the Attorney General." Ottinger had a heart attack and died in New York City on January 13, 1938. ==Family==